Chapter 27：Taken For Granted

That night, while Yin Hua Lei was fast asleep and slightly feverish, Prince Feng had a heart to heart talk with his shifu, Yin Fang Qi.

Who knew what they talked about but Xia Lian Bei only walked out of the vacant courtyard before the sun rose.

His clothes were badly disheveled while he was clutching his ribs and wincing in pain. There was also a faint trace of blood dribbling down from his pale lips as well as on his bone-white knuckles.

Moments later, Lord Yin exited in the same fashion. His robes were still in order but only he knew that he seemed to have internal injuries.

This was the first time Shai saw his master look so pitiful. He didn't know whether to sympathize with him or say this was heavenly retribution, reaping what one sowed.

Prince Feng was used to weaving tragedies for other people. It seemed to Shai that this was karma.

"Master... This one sees that the best solution is to declare a marriage proposal to the Yin family. Surely, both sides will agree?" It's not like Princess Gao Le can still marry someone else.

Shai said in all seriousness once they were back at the wangfu. He omitted the last part because he still wanted his life.

But Xia Lian Bei suddenly glared at his right hand man while he treated his own wounds.

"Fool! Did ben wang raise you to be so stupid?! During your brief encounters with that girl, have you seriously been fooled by her magnanimous and ennobled demeanor?"

The prince sneered at him.

Shai didn't know what to reply. Wasn't Gao Le princess the capital's revered fairy? Wasn't that why his master also liked Gao Le princess?

"Tsk. Seriously, you're reliable on the battlefield but still a baby chick when it comes to seeing people through. All the years of scheming in Northern Chu got you nowhere. If ben wang forced Yin Hua Lei to marry... This prince will probably die without even knowing the hows and whys!"

Shai's brows rose in disbelief.

"Master, your sense of humor is nonexistent so please refrain from joking in the future."

How could a simple woman who was pampered all her life be able to scheme against his master who had been dealing with malicious people ever since he could remember?

Xia Lian Bei was seriously pissed off now. That damn girl really hid herself well. In the capital, who would believe him if he said Gao Le princess was the most pernicious woman he met?

None.

He doubted that even Xia Yu Heng, that ninth nephew knew just how much of a schemer was the woman he dumped.

See? Even his people wouldn't believe him!

"Bah! Don't believe this prince if you don't want. Just be careful not to attract that person's ire. Ben wang had the guts to anger her before because I have Bao Bei. She wouldn't do anything to her daughter's father. But now..."

It was as though Xia Lian Bei had been struck with lightning.

"Will that damn girl target this prince to get Bao Bei? But ben wang still has Imperial Older Brother... She won't make a move as long as that old guy is alive, right?"

He murmured to himself in his paranoia. Shai only felt his face twitching.

Did his master suffer a concussion?

Prince Feng could hack countless heads in the battlefield but he was melting his brain just to predict if the mother of his daughter would assassinate him.

Unconsciously, Shai became wary of Gao Le princess.

***

Noon the next day at Gao Le palace.

Yin Fang Qi and Nuo Wan naturally visited their daughter.

Yin Hua Lei woke up late but her fever was gone so the servants of the princess residence could breathe freely again.

Nuo Wan looked at her only daughter who was sitting on her bed.

Yin Hua Lei felt like she was on house arrest but she understood that rest was clearly needed. She herself was to blame for this matter so she was quite ashamed of meeting her parents.

"Mother... Father..." She greeted, not daring to raise her head.

Smiling bitterly, "Hua Lei is a failure of a daughter. I'm surprised you haven't disowned me yet."

It was the truth.

With just how strict their society was and even more so, their Yin clan, banishing Yin Hua Lei was already a light punishment.

Even if it was unintentional, she still had an immoral relation with a man and bore him a child. What was worse, she left the child, hid this matter for three years and even resumed to giving hints to another man.

Observing from an outsider's point of view, Yin Hua Lei could be branded as a promiscuous and unscrupulous woman.

No wonder, Feng wang was fuming in anger whenever he saw her.

How could the Yin clan ever have a daughter like her?

"You foolish child! Mother will disown myself! What kind of grandma is this lady that I didn't even get a single glance of the little treasure when she was a small baby? How come you suffered like that, giving birth in a distant land and you didn't tell mother? My precious daughter and granddaughter ah! Why did you endure for so long? Mother is so useless..."

Nuo Wan bursted into tears which shocked Yin Hua Lei to the core.

"This grandma should have held your daughter, should have taught you how to change her swaddling clothes, should have been there to care for both of you during those times. Xiao Lei, why didn't you confide with mother? Is mother untrustworthy to you?"

The middle aged lady's cries were heartbreaking. Her husband could only support her as she was beyond consolation now.

When Yin Hua Lei saw her mother this way, her eyes stung and her nose soured as her throat went dry.

She glanced at her father and saw the same self-blame in his eyes. Those red-rimmed misty eyes said it all.

She couldn't stop the tears that started to fall.

Did she deserve this kind of family? She made so many mistakes even though some of them were for various reasons.

Yet her parents blamed themselves for not properly looking after her.

She expected them to fault and scold her, to give punishment according to rules.

In the end, her judgment was still wrong.

Why did she see them as the typical aristocratic parents who only cared for power and reputation?

Since young, it had been very obvious that her family was special.

They were real and golden.

Wasn't this the reason why she wanted to protect them in the first place?

Sigh...

The things that were in front of you were really easy to be taken for granted.

"It was... Hua Lei... It was me who lacked the foresight. Mother and father shouldn't blame yourselves. It was all my fault."

Yin Hua Lei finally said when she calmed down. It wasn't good for her to have fluctuating emotions.

Those words were all she could muster.

Any high-sounding apology sounded fake to her ears so she could only hold her mother's hand and convey her heartfelt regrets with her eyes and a few words.

Yin Hua Lei unconsciously built tall walls around herself since young because of the expectations and responsibilities weighing down her shoulders.

She was taught to act high and mighty for the world to see and be silent but deadly in the shadows.

She lived in two worlds. One was the high strata where people looked up to her for being a perfect lady. The other was in the dark where her eyes became open and her body became a weapon against all kinds of schemes and shady things.

Because of these, she didn't notice that she never truly lived.

She never truly felt anything other than wariness and being alert at all times to see people's hidden meanings and motives.

So that's why I became so inhumane... Yin Hua Lei suddenly thought.

Yin Fang Qi's voice was still gruff, as though he'd been fighting his tears all this time.

With the topic being pushed to here, Yin Hua Lei recalled something.

"Father? When did you take Feng wang shu as your disciple?"

She heard it clearly last night. Xia Lian Bei called her father shifu, although he easily corrected himself, it didn't miss her ears.

Fang Qi paused at this question.

"...Even before you were born. Lian Bei practically lived in the fu per his Majesty's request because he can't protect his younger brother at all times inside the imperial palace. Other people only knew that he lived inside the cold palace and no one was allowed to visit."

Nuo Wan who gained a semblance of calm also chimed. "Lian'er lived with us until you were three. You're too young to remember but the boy used to babysit you when mother can't reject invitations from noble ladies and princesses."

"L-Lian'er...?" Yin Hua Lei inwardly winced.

Here she was thinking that her family was way too lenient. It turned out there was such a history between the father of her daughter and the Yin clan.

Now, she also found the reason why his martial arts were that excellent.

Glancing at the crimson ring on her finger, Yin Hua Lei felt like she'd been played by a certain uncle sitting on a throne.

Fang Qi had an inkling of what his daughter was thinking of. He felt a need to clarify things.

"Xiao Lei, that person is innocent with the matter three years ago. He won't go as far as to harm you and Lian Bei."

Yin Hua Lei subconsciously sat upright. "Naturally... Daughter won't dare think of such thoughts."

There was the matter of the Emperor scheming something but she knew that it didn't involve that accident. She knew his Majesty wouldn't stoop so low just to accomplish what he wanted.

That old man still had some decency in him, she believed.

But to think that the old wily fox had been misleading his younger brother all these years. And why did Prince Feng allow himself to be hoodwinked this way?

After a few exchanges, her parents decided to leave and let her rest.

But Yin Hua Lei's mind was currently on overdrive.

She was getting more answers the more she thought.

The Emperor gave her the ring when she was born. Knowing that its pair was in his younger brother's possession, she could tell that his Majesty already made an unspoken promise to the boy that day.

That promise was further solidified when the Emperor titled him Feng prince.

Yin Hua Lei gritted her teeth. Why didn't Uncle Emperor just give her the title Huang to announce it to the whole world?

That way she would have behaved herself and acted like a normal betrothed.

Just imagining how the young Xia Lian Bei looked on while she schemed to be Chang wangfei was enough to make her chest feel stuffy and drown in shame and self-reproach.

In truth, her former machinations were hidden from the public eye. Probably, Xia Yu Heng and Bai Chen Rong caught a glimpse of it, as well as his Majesty and her family.

But she had the gut feeling that none of her so-called hidden actions escaped that wang shu's eyes.

This was the first time Yin Hua Lei felt the urge to just bury herself under the face of the earth.

Could she bear to look at those crimson eyes in the future?